Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1887-03-03

nine out of ten of our native popula.
ton. | saw one poor fellow, who, by
the cut of his clothes had apparently
but recently left sunny Italy, trying to
thaw out his frost-bitten fingers on one
of the chilliest days during DUR recent
cold snap. He had gathered Il few pa
pers together and started bonfire un.
der the lee of one of the pillars which
support the elevated railroad. He was
thrusting his hands in the flames fof
relief, but by the agony expressed in his
face am fearful that it did not come.
Brooklyn pays about $4,000 annual
ly for the removal of its ashes, and last
year over $780, 200 loads We're carted to
the low lots which abound in South
Brooklyn and elsewhere 1t is neat
these dumps, in miserable novels, that
the last, but by no means the least, class
OF this great family of rag-pickers
dwell, They are up betimes in the
morning awaiting the arrival of the
ash carts like so many vultures would
await the coming of prey, and no car
rlon crows ever plunged their talons in
the carcass of dead COW with more
voracity than these people settle down
to a frouzy examination of the ash
heaps. A person would suppose that
little remains in the ashes after the
rummaging of the Italian street pick.
ers' But men, women and children by
the hundreds work there with bag and
basket from sunrise to sunset. Old
coal scuttles, pots, kettles, pans, broken
crockery, hats, caps, bonnets, cast of
garments, feathers, coal, wood and a
multitude of similar articles are taken
to the finders shanties and cleaned and
repaired for personal use. Old metal,
rags, paper, bones, bottles, tin cans
and scraps of tin, hair, corks, bits OF
leather and rope are carried away for
assortment and sale. There are hun.
dreds of things which our forefathers
threw away, which we find many
ways of utilizing. Within gen.
Grafton the residuary products
arising from the manufacture OF
gas, which were formerly considered
worthless, have through new meth
DDS of distillation and manufacture
been made to yield coal oil, salts Of
ammonia, naphtha, tar, pitch, creosote,
benzole, carbolic acid, paraffine, an
lime, naphthaline, and, by combination
with coal, shales, alum, copperas and
sulphuric acid. So it is with the con
tents of the rag-picker's bag. Wooden
rags, old stockings, white flannel, car
peting, serge, tailors' trimmings, OLD
coats, gowns and other condemned
garments are sent to the shoddy man.
ufacturer, where they are torn into
shreds, mixed with new wool and man
ufactured into cheap and serviceabl,
CLOTH Wooden rags are also ground W
into flock and artificial flowers and car
always be used no matter how old
Linen cloths are sent to the paper
manufacturers and transformed int
the best paper. Cotton rags 90 tt
paper makers, while house rags an(
dish cloths, which are covered will
grease, are sold to hop growers fol
manure. All kinds of paper are sen
to the papier mache manufacturer, WHIT
| produces various ornamental and use
full articles, such as tea trays, cigar ant
tobacco cases and match boxes. Bone
are boiled for their grease and gel
atine, converted into charcoal ant
used in sugar refineries, sold t,
the tanner who manufactures cas-,
handles, knive handles and other use
full articles, or they are ground up ant
sold to the farmer as phosphates o
lime, forming an excellent and highl,
valued manure. Old bottles, phial
and fragments of glass are remelted
colored by a unique process and mad
into fiat pieces which are broken ~
into irregular shapes to serve as mosaic
window glass. Pieces of tin and tn
cans are sold to chemical works or t,
manufacturers who melt them int,
window weights Old boots are sol,
to men who patch them up for tn,
cheap trade, or if they are too dilapi
dated they are ground up with othe
fragments of leather and compressed
into insoles for cheap shoes. The til
and solder are removed from oil,
saucepans and sold to the dealer il
these articles. In Paris the utility o
every thing is demonstrated. Coal an,
ashes are sold to brick burners, the dy,
is extracted from scarlet cloths TO
wood staining purposes, and the bodie
of dead cats and dogs are skinned an,
the hides used in the manufacture o
gloves, and one enterprising chap buy
bits of bread, grinds them up and re
sells them to French cooks as brea'
crumbs.-G. +. a., IN Brooklyn Eagle